Page 21 from "Grammar and Dictionary of the Yakama Language" by Father Charles Marie Pandosy, trans. George Gibbs and J. G. Shea, originally published in 1862 and reprinted in 1970, showing the conjugation of the verbs "to have" and "to be." This page was scanned from the 1970 reprint.
Native languages are a part of the cultural infrastructure. Enforced assimilation via boarding schools to learn the Whiteman's ways in order to become "civilized," robbed many native nations of this fundamental cultural support. Efforts to revitalize native languages means competing against Indian relatives and neighboring tribes for funding. The U.S. government should make reclamation of native languages a part of annual budgets within the Dept. of Interior, tribal funding. Vivian Adams, Yakama
Grammar and Dictionary of the Yakama Language (Father Charles Marie Pandosy, trans. George Gibbs and J. G. Shea), 1862 (printed 1970): The Catholic priests, the "black robes," were seen as friends to the Indians. They even learned to speak Sahaptin (the language spoken by many of the Plateau tribes) with their Indian friends rather than attempting to change that language to English only. Father Pandosy became worried about the cultural assimilation of the Plateau people and the possible loss of their native language via enforced assimilation. The result of his efforts to conserve the language is the "dictionary" he created of the Sahaptin words. Vivian M. Adams, Yakama
Prayers
The Catholic priests, the "black robes," were seen as friends to the Indians. They were friendlier than other Christian ministers, who looked down on Indians as savages without religions thereby needing to be saved: civilized, redeemed and acceptable as members of the human race.The Methodists had won the government lottery to preach their religion in the Yakama area of Washington State. They built their church in the White Swan area of the reservation, a small rural town located a few miles from Ft. Simcoe, a former military base turned boarding school and tribal headquarters, and today a state park. Headman Kamiakin, a treaty signer, became friends with the Catholic priests, who moved and lived among the Yakamas. He had lands at the northern boundary of the reservation in Ahtanum where he gave his Catholic friends a parcel of land upon which they built the Ahtanum Mission.The black robes lived among the Indians rather than isolating themselves from them. What they preached about the body, blood and resurrection of Christ was powerful medicine words. Vivian Adams, Yakama